Golem Souls
by SonofBerenike
Summary: My idea for the next Souls game
1. Chapter 1

Golem Souls

Chapter 1: Backstory

Death. Destruction. Pain. Rage.

The re-emergence of the Demons saw the world torn asunder, kingdoms falling in days, armies crushed in amazingly unequal battles.

However, the nation of Callidor, a nation of religious devotion and a war-based church, created the Golems. These mighty stone constructs were forged of the most powerful minerals and powered by rare crystals called 'The Cores', which seemed to be concentrations of solidified souls.

These constructs were of great enough strength and power to do battle with the Demons, and for a while man looked as though he may win. However, the rebirth of mans greatest foe, older than the demons, saw the tables turn once more.

As if the rage of Demons were not enough, the ancient Undead Curse awoke amidst man once more, turning people into hollows, doomed to eternally seek Humanities by killing their fellow men.

Callidor suffered a great loss when the Golems Cores seemed infected by this disease, the stone warriors turning on them. The combined rage of Demon, Golem and Curse turned mankind into a fallen race, mere scraps of what was once the dominant force of the world.

However, the Golems and Demons still fought each other as well as humanity, and so their great war carried as man worked to rebuild itself.

Now, an undead who remains sane attempts to make the most of his curse of immortality, and seeks the answer to the Demons and the Golems. This has drawn him to the Mountain of the Gods, the birthplace of Golems…


	2. Chapter 2

Golem Souls

Chap. 2: The Outlands

The game begins, after you choose your character, showing them cresting a hill, gazing down upon the rocky wasteland of ruined buildings and rock structures he will be questing through, as the Mountain of the Gods looms in the distance.

This area is meant to be a starting area, and as thus the difficulty is fairly easy, for a souls game, at least. The local enemies are fairly simple and the area is easily traversed, though there are secrets to reward those with adventurous tendencies.

There are several small towns and lots of farmland, so this area is rather vast. The towns all contain enemies and a few chests with basic gear like firebombs and throwing knives.

The first enemy you find is a simple civilian, unarmed except for their fists, who will charge you mindlessly. Taking him down is simple, but be warned, there are later circumstances where you will fight hordes of them at once.

The Enemies:

Civilian- A simple foe, this fellow wears simple clothes of a farmer or tradesman, and will fight often with his fists or with a broken weapon. They telegraph their attacks by screaming at you, so they are rather easy enemies.

Militia- These guys are basically the Hollow Warriors of the game, wearing the same clothes as a civilian, but with a rusted helmet and breastplate, as well as carrying a sword or crossbow. Once again, fairly simple, the swordsmen will swing wildly while the crossbows will try to snipe you, but their aim is shoddy and they are weak.

Farmer- This guy can be found on the outskirts of the town, in the fields and ruined barns of the farmland. He carries a sickle, which he swings frantically, a scythe, which has good reach and damage, but is easily dodged, and a pitchfork, which he stabs at you with, doing decent damage, but easily parried.

These three are the basic foes of this area, but throughout you find signs of something bigger. The destroyed buildings and ruined farmland couldn't have been the result of the Curse alone, right? Right.

Boss: The Demon of Ruination

This guy is designed to intimidate. He is over twice as tall as you, carries a giant mace and is surrounded by dead soldiers and militia men. He is covered in scars and old wounds, and upon passing through his fog-gate, at the entrance to the courtyard of a small fort in front of the canyon leading to the Mountain of the Gods, he roars at you, and an epic, deathly track starts playing. (The Pursuers Theme- Dark Souls 2, is a good reference)

His attacks are similar to the asylum and Taurus Demons, and despite his intimidating appearance, he isn't too hard to fight. The main thing to watch out for is getting cornered, or getting caught by a flame blast he will unleash from time to time. The attack has a wide AoE, and deals heavy fire damage, as well as throwing the player back.

After defeating him, you are granted 2500 souls, as well as his soul.

Soul of the Demon of Ruination: This soul belonged to a demon of death and destruction, the aura of anger surrounding it makes it almost unbearable to carry.

Grants 4000 souls, as well as a single point in the players strength statistic.

**xxxxXXXXxxxx**

**Tell me what you think, you beautiful bastards! (Sorry, that was mean.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Golem Souls

Chapter 3: Stonevale Canyon

**Hello there friends and enemies, how are you all doing? Just to note, this will be a very inconsistent 'Fic, mostly because I go between 'lets get writing! Yeah!' and 'meh, maybe later.' I will be featuring Chapters about NPCs, Special Bosses, and Mechanic/Story Points of interest. The area chapter, though, like this one, will be the most common. This will include an area description, a bestiary of the enemies and a boss summary, as well as Points of Interest and NPCs.**

**All that aside, welcome to Stonevale Canyon.**

After defeating the Demon of Ruination, you will find yourself walking through a small backdoor, into Stonevale Canyon. The canyon is wide, but still enclosed enough to make you feel trapped. The only things you find at first are ruined military banners and dead soldiers, who resemble roman legionaries.

If you look up, you'll see that the cliffs slope inwards, almost making this place a tunnel. The sun shines through in a very thin line, always at the center of the canyon floor. The canyon at first seems to be empty.

As you press on, however, you find a small encampment with several of the soldiers walking around hollowed. These are your first enemies, and will be around for a while.

Enemies

Damned Legionaries: These guys are basically the hollow soldiers of Golem Souls, all of them wield a javelin (Throwable Spear), a gladius (A short sword with moderate damage and C-Scaling with Dex.) and the legion shield (Basically a smaller tower shield). They may drop any of these, or their legion set, which has decent physical and magical protection, but is weak to fire and lightning.

Damned Centurions: These fellows are upgraded Legionaries, wielding the same weapons, but are better armoured and more dangerous in a fight. They will parry, dodge and try to circle behind you if you turtle. They are also often accompanied by a Standard Bearer, so beware.

Legion of Damnation Standard Bearer- Thank the lord that there is only a few of these guys, since they basically call down all the Damned Legionaries and Centurions in a large vicinity, who will then proceed to swarm you. Fun times.

Legion of Damnation Cleric: These guys wear the same basic armour as their fellows, but carry talismans and shields. They cast healing magic on the Legionaries and Centurions, as well as Force if you get too close for comfort. They can be killed while casting their healing spell, however, so just be a little patient and hurt a few Legionaries, and you should be fine.

Now time for the first, and most common, NPC!

NPCs

Royal Legionary Jason- You find Jason in a decrepit watchtower at the edge of the boss fog, which is between two towers. Jason is in the one to the left. Simply break down the door with a kick, walk up the stairs and there he is, sitting on a bench halfway up the tower, in a pose similar to Pates. He wears the same basic armour as the Damned Legionaries, but he is human. He has a sword positioned up against the bench next to him, and upon first seeing you, he will reach for it, before stopping, saying "Oh, you're not one of those hollows, are you. Good."

Upon talking to him: "Who am I? The names Jason, former Legionary of the Twelfth Legion. You saw the some of the other members on your way here, and you'll see a few more if you look through that window there."

Talking to him again: "Oh, the path ahead? It's defended by some bloody statue. There used to be four of the bastards, but now there's just one. Only damn thing we accomplished…"

Talking to him a third time: "Well, ain't you sociable. Tell you what, I've got a feeling you may want some backup against that golem. I'll come with you. I've been meaning to pay my last respects to my mates anyways."

He will then follow you to the boss fog, no soapstone required.

Boss: Stone Sentry

This thing is basically babies first Artorias, meaning he fights in a similar way, but is easier than the Abysswalker.

Upon entering his boss room, you will see four stone pedestals, three of them empty. One, however, has a statue of a warrior wearing a cloak with a hood concealing the face, holding a massive greatsword almost as tall as it in front of it, blade down. Before the statue is a pile of dead Legionaries.

The camera suddenly zooms in as the statue moves, tightening its grip on its sword, before cracking its neck and leaping from the pedestal, landing in front of you. It roars before swinging its sword over its shoulder.

The Stone Sentry is a fast and powerful opponent, with lots of fast swings and thrusts. its main attacks include:

Swing: The Stone Sentry swings his sword toward you, in a ninety degree angle. Easily dodged by rolling back, but it covers his entire front.

Double Swing: The Sentry swings twice in a ninety degree angle in front of him, the first swing is easily dodged, but beware, as on the second swing he lunges forward.

Thrust: Rather self explanatory. He stabs forwards while lunging, rolling to the side will dodge this attack handily. Being hit will throw you backwards, and deal heavy damage.

Thrust-Feint: This attack looks for all the world like a thrust, but will suddenly cancel into a swing to the left or right, if the thrust doesn't connect. It will automatically aim to you if you roll away, so be wary.

Back Uppercut: If you linger behind The Stone Sentry for too long, it will perform an attack similar to the Black Knight Greatswords uppercut, only backwards. It will through you into the air and deal heavy damage, but you can roll away if you're fast enough.

Summons: There are no summons available for this boss, but you can talk to Royal Legionary Jason and he will assist in the fight. Jason is a decent ally, he deals decent damage and can block the Sentries attacks. That's right, this guy may not deal too much damage, but he has remarkably high poise and health.

After killing the Sentry, you will be rewarded with:

Core of the Stone Sentry: "The core of the mighty Stone Sentry, guardian of the Mountain of the Gods. The Sentry was created en-masse for the demon war, but now only a few remain operational." Grants 5000 souls.

4000 souls

The Core can be used to forge:

Stone Greatsword: "This copy of the blade of the mighty Stone Sentry is not imbued with any special magical powers or miraculous abilities, but sometimes all a warrior needs is a good honest blade."

Requires 30 strength to wield, but has A-scaling with Strength and a D-Scaling with Dexterity. Additionally, you can perform the backwards uppercut if you perform a two handed R2/RT.

If you had Jason help you with the fight, he will be bowing before the pile of corpses on one knee.

Talking to him: "Thank you for your assistance, now I can finally lay my comrades to rest. Here, take this." He will hand you a Legion Shield.

Legion Shield: "This shield was manufactured by the nation of Remus for its brave legionaries, who fought in solid block formations. It is a solid, well built shield, with no special attributes, but it fulfills its duties."

This shield has good all around defenses, as well as good stability and a shield bash.

After collecting whatever you should desire from the canyon, you press on, into the mountain.


	4. Chapter 4

Golem Souls

Chapter 4: The Ironworks

**Hello there folks! Once again, tell me how I'm doing with this, review, follow if you like this, so on and so forth. On a note, if you've already reviewed, you won't be mentioned for a few chapters, since I'm writing some of this in advance to posting. Onwards, to the Ironworks!**

Upon entering the Mountain of the Gods, through an immense set of iron doors, opening only after you defeat the Stone Sentry, you are given three choices. Advance forwards, to the left or to the right and down. Forwards will take you to the Iron Peaks, while the left will take you to the Scaffolds, but the right path will take you to the area of special interest here, The Ironworks.

Appearance:

The Ironworks is essentially a badass steampunk Old Iron Keep, with lots of hissing valves and scaffolding over an enormous lava pit, the dirty grey of the metal platforms reflecting the orange light of the magma.

Above the scaffolding are lines of vats filled with scrap metal, all rusty, which you can reach using several ladders.

Enemies dot the scaffolding and platforms.

Workman- A hollow looking fellow wearing a scorched workers apron and trousers, with either two hammers or a shovel replacing his hands. He will attack by screaming and rushing you, the shovel ones trying to smash you over the head as the hammers attack with sweeping swings and downwards smashes. A point of interest is the small glowing orb in the back of his neck.

Overseer- He wears the same apron as the others, just with metal plates reinforcing it and a fancy hat. He will attack with his whip, that he carries on his belt. It has long range for a melee weapon and can actually disarm you with a special attack.

Fire Golem- This is essentially a being of lava and rock, about Berenike knight size and wielding nothing but its flaming fists. It has an interesting damage system, where it is entirely immune to fire and has high resistance to all other forms of damage, so to wound it you must get the bucket item from a chest. There are water troughs across the platforms, and you must fill the bucket from one of these troughs, then pour the water on the golem. The golem will become a solid being, allowing you to attack it normally.

Fighting across the scaffolding will take you to multiple chests, which contain a few items of interest.

Scrap Iron: "_These scraps and shavings of iron seem to be useless in their current form, but perhaps a skilled smith could make them useful…_" This stuff is contained in several chests, and is a fairly common drop for enemies. It can be used by some smiths to upgrade iron-based weapons.

Marked Blacksmith Hammer: "_Used by Blacksmiths to mold metal, this tool of industry may not have been intended as a weapon, but something meant to forge iron and steel would have no trouble shattering bones and crushing armour. This one seems to bear a strange symbol by the base…" _This weapon is obtainable from a corpse next to a small smithy, with an anvil. The corpse is surrounded by several dead hollow workers. This is referenced by someone later.

Whip: _"This sadistic weapon is often used by slave-drivers, not warriors. However, for those seeking a mid-range weapon, this may suffice. The especially skilled may even be able to disarm their foes." _It's a whip. It has average damage, medium range, it's a whip. But, if you are of sufficient dexterity (Thirty), you can disarm your opponent, un-equipping their current right hand or two-handed weapon. Ouch, I know. It is a rare drop for Overseers.

It is here you find your next NPC, Darius.

Npcs: Darius- Darius is a man clad in the same clothes as the worker enemies fill the landscape, but without the glowing core on the back of his neck or the tools molded to his hands. Upon approaching, you hear him murmuring 'They'll never get me… Never!' and 'All the others failed… But I'm okay, good, yes, good…'

Talk: "Are you… no, you aren't an overseer… good, yes, good… I was afraid… no, not afraid… worried, yes worried, that you might be here to turn me into… one of those… things!"

Talk again: So, are you here for something… not like me, though, not at all, I'm here because… I must be! Yes, because I must be…"

Talk again: "Look, I'm sure you have some important task to do, but I need… No, not need, want you to find me some of that Bliss-Grass… I'm not addicted, I swear! I just need… I just need a bit once in a while to keep me going, okay! If you could find me some, I would be… what would I be… Grateful! Yes, grateful!"

Every time you bring Darius some Bliss-Grass (Found around the game), he will give you a minor Golem core.

Minor Golem Core- "This small, round gem seems to be made of solidified souls, similar to the Cores of the mighty war golems, though this is far weaker." Gives slow health regen on use, basically a lifegem, but it also gives you 250 souls.

After speaking to Darius, the only way to advance is a drop onto a broken piece of scaffolding, and jumping from that onto a small platform with a bonfire on it. After resting at the bonfire, you must jump down again, onto a piece of broken rock floating on the lava.

Jump from rock to rock and back onto the scaffolding, and advance through a doorway into the realm of the area boss, The Scrap Golem.

Boss: Scrap Golem

Upon entering a massive set of iron doors, you will find an enormous creature formed of thousands of pieces of armour and weapons. It resembles an enormous humanoid, with a dragon-like head. It waist deep in a pile of scrap, and it will look down at you, being Bed of Chaos sized, before opening its maw, filled with hundreds of blades, and roar at you, a harsh, metallic, grinding sound. (Think broken blender).

The music kicks in, something metallic and fast. The golem roars at you as the fight begins.

The Scrap Golem is an interesting… thing to fight, because it is near invincible to most melee, fire, sorcery and faith attacks, the huge piles of scrap by his side flowing up, replacing any damage, meaning you have to find a different way of killing it.

Its attacks include:

Smash: The golem puts its hands together an attacks with a downwards smash. Hurts like hell if you get hit, but easy to dodge.

Hook Punch: This is a dangerous attack for the sole reason that it has a broad range and high damage, but it has a wind up that is easy to spot.

Scrap Throw: The golem roars in anger and tears off chunks of its metal hide, and throws them at you. The projectiles aren't too accurate, but they have a blast radius.

Rage: After the golem is reduced to half health, he begins roaring and thrashing about, smashing scaffolding and essentially changing the arena for the rest of the fight

Running up some nearby scaffolding, you find a lever, which you pull to activate some mechanism that pours molten iron on top of the demon. It roars again, this time in a higher pitch, and you realize it is now fused into a mass of iron.

This cuts off half of the golems health, and he is now vulnerable to all attacks, as the scrap piles have also been fused together. Previously, when he was injured, the piles of scrap around him would flow up to replace damage and restore his health. Now, he will stay injured.

After killing the beast, a cutscene will play, the golem slowly melting into thousands of pieces of scrap, revealing its core… planted in the chest of a man in a black trenchcoat, about seven feet tall, wearing an enormous clawed gauntlet on his right hand. The core glows a harsh red, in oppose to the other cores which are a soft blue, as though rejecting its current vessel.

He raises the gauntlet as though grabbing something to his right, before making a throwing gesture. Suddenly, one of the empty magma buckets piled behind him flies towards you as the gauntlet glows red.

Your character dodges, falling to the ground, as the new foe slams the gauntlet to the ground, causing an enormous pile of scrap to launch him through the air, before it coils into a snake-like formation and carries him out through massive chimney above him.

You receive nothing but 6000 souls and five Scrap Iron for this fight. However, you did just get a look at one of the most dangerous foes you will face in this world. Luckily for you, you won't fight him for a while. Thank god for that, 'cause if you did fight him right now, you'd be dead.

You leave the area via a small elevator behind the arena, which takes you up to a rather… friendly location.


End file.
